


a perfect world

by elsewherewolf



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Post-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 14:54:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elsewherewolf/pseuds/elsewherewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Herc's lost everything and everyone, but there's someone willing to find him again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a perfect world

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DT Maxwell (Draya)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draya/gifts).



It's been months, and Raleigh thinks it should never have taken this long to find him; he should never have drifted so far. He's nervous as hell when the door finally opens, doesn't know what to expect. He certainly doesn't expect Herc to answer wearing an apron that's covered in flour. 

"Raleigh?" Herc says, almost strangled and looking past him for something, or someone else. 

"It's just me. Am I... interrupting something?"

"No, no, you're not interrupting, come on in." Herc steps aside, and Raleigh tries to make himself and his bag as small as possible to get by, feeling more unsure of himself with every second. "You on your way somewhere?" Herc asks, closing the door behind them.

"Just here. I asked around-"

"You saw the story," Herc corrects, leading Raleigh through to the kitchen. "I didn't want them to write that, but... Coffee?"

"Yeah, thanks. Herc, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a bit... Surprised to see you. How about you, anyway? Haven't seen you in... wow, a long while."

Raleigh shrugs, dropping his bag by the kitchen table and taking a seat. "I'm not talking about that, you know what I mean."

"My son died, Raleigh," Herc says, quieter. He's stilled, his hand resting on the counter. "Why should I have to explain anything? To anyone?"

"I'm not asking you to explain this, I'm asking how you're doing."

"Same fucking question." Herc sighs. "Sorry. Why'd you come here?"

Raleigh scratches at the table, his chair scraping on the floor as he gets up again, moves to stand behind Herc. Not too close, just close enough to touch him, fingertips between his shoulder blades. "You know why."

"Why now, then?" Herc stiffens, and Raleigh almost drops his hand, then rubs lightly at Herc's shoulder instead. "I've been gone a long time."

"You were hard to find. I understand why you dropped off the map, Herc, I do. But I could've come with you, I could've helped, you just had to ask. I was right there."

"Couldn't deal with it," Herc says, simply. He turns around, lets Raleigh step into his space, lets his head be pulled down to Raleigh's shoulder. "Shit, I've missed you." 

"Can you deal with this now?" Raleigh asks, finding Herc's hair just a little thicker than it used to be, soft between his fingers. "With me?"

"How do you do it?" Herc pulls back, his eyes wet and face pinched, and he rubs his thumb over Raleigh's cheek. "I thought you'd have come to your senses and married Mako by now, you know."

Raleigh smiles, pressing his cheek into Herc's hand, turning to kiss his palm. "You thought I'd stop loving you just because you weren't there, didn't say goodbye when you left, didn't tell me where you were going?"

"I wanted a body to bury and I couldn't even have that." Herc pulls Raleigh just a little closer. "Needed... space, no, fuck that's a terrible excuse. I'm sorry. It wasn't about dealing with you, alright? It was about you having to deal with me. I thought this would be better for everyone, in the long run."

"You ass." He feels Herc smile, and shakes his head. "I mean it."

"How can you still want this? I'm tired, Raleigh. Tired and beat up and not worth-"

"We were both there when I said I love you, weren't we? I kinda think we were. So don't give me that. Just- Look, it doesn't matter any more. Don't ever fucking run away again, not when you've got me."

"I'm lucky you're so tenacious, huh?" Herc pushes gently at Raleigh's chest, getting a little space between them. He looks distraught and apologetic all at once, turns away quickly. "Coffee."

"You're worth all the time I spent finding you," Raleigh amends, smiling as he watches Herc dump two sugars into his mug. Herc doesn't need to say the words, Raleigh knows and has known for a long time exactly how he feels. "Hey, I'm here now. And so long as it's okay with you, I'd like to stick around. I can get my own place until you're ready for-"

"No. No, you can stay here. I want you to. I don't think Max would mind."

+

They sleep in separate beds for the first two weeks, until Herc takes Raleigh out to dinner one night and they come back kissing the taste of red wine from one another's mouth, barely making it through the front door before Raleigh pushes his hand into Herc's pants, pulls his shirt loose and _finally_ there's skin under his fingers and he groans. Herc kicks the door closed, pulling Raleigh with him, down the hall and up the stairs, both of them laughing because it's something good, something normal, and it's everything they couldn't have before now.

Not like this.

"You're glad I hunted you down," Raleigh says, weak with the way Herc's sucking a kiss into his throat, leaving a mark behind.

"I was surviving, out here on my own," Herc murmurs, his arms tightening around Raleigh. "But surviving isn't... It isn't this."

"This is better," Raleigh whispers, stopping in the doorway to Herc's room. "Do you want-"

"Yes. _Hell,_ yes."

Which makes Raleigh laugh again, and he gives up on buttons and pulls Herc's shirt up, over his head. Herc goes back to Raleigh's throat, hands busy at his belt, his fly, making Raleigh gasp when fingers slip inside his underwear and curl around his cock.

+

Herc snorts into Raleigh's shoulder, laughing harder still when Raleigh pushes himself up off the pillow and sends a pointed 'ssh' in Max's direction.

The dog keeps snoring, and Raleigh turns over, grinning up at Herc. "Max, c'mon buddy, don't kill the mood."

"I don't think he cares," Herc points out, bending to kiss Raleigh's mouth again. He settles between Raleigh's thighs, puts his hand beneath one to lift, both of them groaning at the slow sink back into it, ignoring Max's grunts. Raleigh digs one hand into Herc's shoulder, the other twists in his hair and Herc rocks into him again, again.

Raleigh holds on tightly when Herc comes, wraps his leg around Herc's hip to hold him there, murmurs nothings into his mouth and kisses him until Herc pulls back, pulls out and gets his hand on Raleigh's cock again. 

"Mm, fingers," Raleigh murmurs, reaching for Herc's free hand. "Please." He smiles at Herc's blush, his mouth falling open at the blunt pressure, at the way Herc jerks him off faster, harder, and he claws at skin and at sheets when he comes, thick bursts over Herc's fist.

+

Herc tosses the towel back towards the bathroom, slides into bed and pulls Raleigh back into him, tracing the scars on his shoulder with gentle touches. "Thank you," he says.

"For that?" Raleigh asks, lazily. 

"For coming here, for finding me. I thought I'd be better on my own. Like that was the message the world was trying to send me, that I'd always wind up on my own no matter what."

"Herc..."

"Let me finish. That fucking war took so much of what I had, I wasn't left with much to offer you. I forgot... I forgot you could build me up too."

"Those years in construction came good," Raleigh jokes, closing his eyes when Herc kisses behind his ear. "You have everything I could want, Herc. This world we saved might not be perfect, but I'd rather live in it with you than without you."


End file.
